Cemîl Qoçgîrî

Cemîl Qoçgîrî was born in Germany into a Kurdish-Alevi family from the region of Qoçgîrî in northern Dersim, Turkey. His virtuoso performance on the tenbûr (long-necked lute) engages radically new soundscapes that incorporate traditional styles inflected by surprising contemporary inspirations.
Growing up in Germany, he began exploring his Kurdish and Alevitic roots as part of a musical journey that continues today. He has released six solo albums as well as engages in production and film-arrangement work, and in collaborations such as the award-winning Hawniyaz project (with Aynur, Kayhan Kalhor and Salman Gambarov) as well as with Kinan Azmeh, NDR Bigband, Morgenland Chamber Orchestra, Netherlands Blazers Ensemble, Mikaîl Aslan, and more.
In 2005 he travelled throughout Dersim to capture on film some of the last living authentic dervishes which were the basis of Sarraf, a musical documentary. His fifth album, Zalâl, consists of songs in Zazaki, one of the oldest languages in Mesopotamia, and a language that has been classified by UNESCO as "threatened with extinction.” An attempt to build a bridge between an endangered language and the current generation, the album was among Transglobal World Music Chart’s 10 best albums of 2017